By Brett Blake Inspired by this piece over on The Playlist, Breanne Brennan and I decided to try our hands at ranking every Best Picture Academy Award winner in order from “worst” to “best,” in a relative sense. Speaking only for myself, I can say that this was almost an agonizing process; for all the flak the Oscars have (sometimes justifiably) received over the years, it can’t be denied that they have honored a lot of really great films, and to rank them is a tall order. Obviously, taste is subjective and usually not fixed in stone. As you’ll see, there’s a good deal of difference between our two lists (though a fair bit of approximate overlap, as well), and it’s also likely that these lists would look different if we compiled them next year, next month, or perhaps even tomorrow. Why did we do it, then? Because it’s fun, that’s why!
Feel free to leave feedback and tell us how badly we've screwed up these lists, and don't forget to watch the Academy Awards on Sunday night, March 2nd, on ABC.
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By Brett Blake Here at the Celluloid Dog Blog, we've been toying with the idea of producing a podcast to expand on our views about movies. Well, we've finally made the plunge. Below you will find the first episode of what we're calling "The Cinematic Confab," an informal film discussion podcast featuring Breanne Brennan, Brenton Thom, and - as the de facto master of ceremonies - me. As I said, this is our first attempt at doing a podcast, so the audio isn’t quite as pristine as we might like, but it should get the job done. For some reason, it sounds like I was recording in front of a roaring fireplace, so ignore the occasional pops and snaps; or, I suppose, you could just pretend that this is an old-fashioned fireside chat - pour yourself a warming beverage of your choice and get cozy. We cover several key areas, including noteworthy trends/stories from 2013, the question of where the future of blockbuster filmmaking will take us, our most surprising and disappointing movies of the year, and finally our favorite films of the year. Along the way, you'll learn why Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg might be talking about retirement, you'll discover the reason STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is such a flawed film, and Brenton Thom will explain to you why it is that BATTLE OF THE YEAR 3D just might be one of the worst movies he's ever seen. All that PLUS in-depth discussion of our favorite movies from 2013. Enjoy our mostly-coherent ramblings! Disclaimer: The Cinematic Confab is a non-profit entertainment and analysis podcast. All audio clips and music cues used are the property of their individual copyright holders. They are presented here under the banner of “Fair Use,” for the purpose of analysis, criticism, entertainment, and/or humor. No infringement of copyright is intended. By Brett Blake As we start a new year, I feel it’s something of a responsibility to highlight films from the previous year that aren’t quite getting the appreciation they deserve, films that may have been well-received when they were released (in fact, all that follow were, for the most part), but for whatever reason are basically nowhere to be found in the big end-of-year conversation that’s taking place in the film community. I’m not just talking about awards consideration, either, but also the general “Hey, such-and-such was a really good movie” kind of discussion that takes place as one year rolls into the next. So, since nobody else is really talking about these, the task falls to me. Now, I’ll be completely honest, this is really just an excuse to highlight some good films that didn’t quite make it onto my “Best of 2013” list (still coming soon!). So consider this something of an appetizer to tide you over until the main event. With that said, here are seven films haven’t yet gotten their due… THE BOOK THIEF Despite appearing - on paper, anyway - to be something of an Oscar-bait film, THE BOOK THIEF has shown up on hardly any “Best of” lists, and awards pundits forecast it being essentially shut out from any significant nominations, save for John Williams’ lovely score (though he’s always nominated when he has an eligible score, so that really says more about respect for him than for the movie itself). I won’t make an argument that THE BOOK THIEF should be in major awards contention, but I will make the argument that it’s a high quality, genuinely affecting World War II drama. Yes, it plays with tropes we’ve seen before, but it does this extremely well, and Sophie Nélisse gives a remarkably accomplished performance for somebody so young. MY AMITYVILLE HORROR This documentary film is ostensibly a look the famed “Amityville Horror” haunting case from the 1970s through the eyes of one of the (now grown) children who lived through it, but the movie is actually much more than that, and it evolves over the course of its running time to become a portrait of deep psychological trauma. While the broad strokes of the haunting and its history are covered, the movie never loses sight of the damaged man at the center of it all, and more than anything else, it makes the case for how easily events can shape the entire outlook of the rest of a person’s life. PRISONERS PRISONERS is one more script draft away from a masterpiece of suspense. There are some spectacular sequences in this film, as well as a pair of tremendous performances from Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. At times the movie is almost unbearably tense, and while developments in the third act come dangerously close to being too overwrought (and even silly), the film’s mastery of tone keeps everything from flying apart. Special mention must go to the starkly-beautiful cinematography (courtesy of the brilliant Roger Deakins), as well as the gutsy ending which won’t leave every audience member satisfied, but will get them talking about what they’ve just experienced. SIDE EFFECTS We have to go all the way back to February of 2013 for this one, and I really think that distance of time is the reason we’re not hearing more about SIDE EFFECTS at the end of the year. Director Steven Soderbergh claims this will be his final theatrical motion picture, and it’s a terrific note to go out on, a film clearly inspired by the works of Alfred Hitchcock - and, if we’re being honest, there’s a lot of Brian De Palma in here, too - that works as a top-flight suspense film of the sort that constantly keeps you guessing as to what the outcome will be. Soderbergh’s direction is as classy as ever, and the movie features Jude Law giving one of the performances of his career as a man whose life is slowly spinning out of his control. YOU'RE NEXT I think that 2013 was, all things considered, a fine year for mainstream (read: big-studio-released) horror films, and YOU’RE NEXT is one of the better poster children for that opinion. It’s a really clever spin on the “home invasion killers” subgenre (take THE STRANGERS, for example), and the way it both fulfills and subverts your expectations for this kind of movie is quite inventive on a script level. It’s a ton of fun, and it showcases a capable, badass female lead character rarely seen in horror films. The movie’s not particularly terrifying (it’s more of a dark romp, really), but it’s never anything less than completely entertaining. OUT OF THE FURNACE This film was released barely a month ago, and nobody is talking about it, which is both perplexing and a shame, since it features awards-caliber work from at least three of its cast members, the standout being Christian Bale. This could be the performance of Bale’s career so far (time will tell); it’s a performance of restraint, rage, and - ultimately - deep humanity that I found to be enormously affecting. OUT OF THE FURNACE is a pitch-black film, a tale of vengeance and crime, with a tone that some could find oppressive or hard to stomach, so I can understand it not being for everybody, but I hope people eventually do give it a look, because the acting is that good. ROOM 237 No movie this year - fictional or otherwise - was able to convey the power of cinema as well as this documentary. On the surface, it’s a deceptively simple film - we’re presented with several theories/interpretations/analyses of Stanley Kubrick’s seminal horror movie, THE SHINING. The proponents of these theories never appear on camera; we only hear their voices as they speak over the film itself, which almost serves to transform them into one of the many disembodied spirits occupying the sinister, haunted Overlook hotel of THE SHINING itself. Most of the theories put forth are, quite honestly, rather goofy (one involves Kubrick using THE SHINING as subtle means to confess his involvement in faking the moon landing in 1969), but they illustrate the unique property of cinema, which is the idea that you can sit a hundred different people down in front of this collection of moving images and you’ll get a hundred different perspectives on what it all means. As much as ROOM 237 is a celebration of the greatness of THE SHINING, it’s equally a celebration of the magic of cinema itself. By Brett Blake As Christmas fast approaches, it won’t be difficult to find holiday-themed movies on TV, and there are a few films you can bank on being shown at least once sometime during the month of December. The undeniable classics will certainly pop up - MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and, of course, A CHRISTMAS STORY will undoubtedly appear, as will the television specials from the 1960s, like RUDOLPH, FROSTY, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, and HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. You’ll probably also find perennial favorites like HOME ALONE or SCROOGED or NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION in the lineup somewhere. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get a GREMLINS sighting, perhaps a DIE HARD appearance… but for the most part, the networks keep things pretty conventional. That’s as it should be, I suppose, as we all probably enjoy these movies on a kind of cinematic comfort food level, and it’s always fun to see our favorites during the Christmas season (ditto for horror movies during October). Having said that, there are a small handful of Christmas-flavored movies that, for whatever reasons, don’t get much airtime during this time of year, and here are three I think deserve a little more appreciation. Black Christmas (1974) Director Bob Clark is best-known for his other Christmas film, 1983’s A CHRISTMAS STORY, and most people seem to be unaware that BLACK CHRISTMAS is his first cinematic take on the holiday. Whereas A CHRISTMAS STORY is 100-per-cent a comedy, this is a horror film, and the plot is a simple one: a group of sorority sisters are plagued by mysterious, obscene phone calls during Christmas break, and then… one by one… they begin to disappear. It’s basically a slasher film, but it’s one of the first, and it therefore helps lay out the blueprint for the era of slashers that would take over the horror genre with the release of HALLOWEEN in 1978; BLACK CHRISTMAS got there first, and it establishes many of the genre tropes and cliches that future horror filmmakers would then pick up and run with: point-of-view shots from the perspective of the killer, a cast whittled down until one resourceful young woman remains, and an ambiguously downbeat ending. It’s a better film than most slasher flicks you’ll find, though, because the characters are well-written (and well-acted), the depiction of the killer is interesting (and pretty darn spooky), and it has a nice sense of humor about itself without undercutting the intensely chilling events that take place. Obviously, for those who don’t like horror movies, this one probably isn’t for you, but for those who are game, this is a great film to watch - preferably alone in your house - on a dark, cold, windy winter’s night. Just be sure to stay away from the remake! Scrooge (1970) Few stories have been filmed as frequently as Charles Dickens' classic novel, A Christmas Carol (perhaps only the Dracula and Sherlock Holmes characters have had more cinematic adaptations). Everybody probably has a favorite version of the tale; many enjoy the 1951 Alastair Sim-starring version, while others might choose the terrific MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL, with Michael Caine as Scrooge, and still others might pick Bill Murray’s hilarious updated take from 1988, SCROOGED. Those are all great movies (and certainly worth seeing if you haven’t yet encountered them), but for me, the definitive film of A Christmas Carol remains this interpretation from 1970. Albert Finney - a young man at the time - is Scrooge, thoroughly curmudgeonly under some ingeniously subtle old age makeup, and he’s wonderful. The gauge with which I measure an actor’s interpretation of Scrooge involves how well the actor is able to sell the character’s transformation/awakening at the end of the story, and nobody has done it with the kind of heartfelt euphoria and gentle humor that Finney brings to the role. The last fifteen-or-so minutes of this movie are tremendous, a song-filled and exuberant conclusion that perfectly accompanies Scrooge’s redemption. Oh, wait, I did say it’s a musical, didn’t I? No? Well, it’s a musical! That fact alone is probably enough to turn off some of you more cynical folks out there, but the songs are (mostly) very catchy, and they all feel suitably “Christmas-y” in spirit. Also, the production design is fantastic, featuring a soundstage-bound version of Victorian London that’s quite atmospheric. You may think you’ve had your fill of Christmas Carol adaptations, but if you can stomach one more, give this one a look. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) I’ll be honest, here: this isn’t really a Christmas movie. Oh, it’s set at Christmas, sure, and there are a few Christmas parties visited by the characters over the course of the story, but there’s nothing about the plot that requires the movie be set at Christmas. It’s just window-dressing. So why am I writing about KISS KISS BANG BANG, then? Because it’s a freakin’ great movie, that’s why! Part buddy-action-comedy, part noir-mystery, the movie follows Robert Downey Jr. as a small-time crook who inadvertently ends up in L.A. to audition for a movie role. While there, he gets embroiled in a mystery and finds himself partnered-up with a gay private investigator (played by Val Kilmer). Goofy, off-the-wall hijinks ensue.
The dialogue (courtesy of writer/director Shane Black, who was the director of IRON MAN 3 earlier this year) is absolutely hilarious, equally hard-edged and silly, and the interplay/sparring between Downey and Kilmer makes for some first-rate comedy. The way the movie simultaneously adheres to - and yet somehow makes fun of - classic noir ideas is also a reflection of how great a screenplay Black was able to put together for this. The movie came out at a time when Downey was just starting to rehabilitate his career after his drug-fueled missteps of the previous decade-plus, and it came-and-went from theaters rather quickly, which is unfortunate. Had it been released after 2008’s IRON MAN launched Downey to the top of the list of the biggest stars in the world, more people would probably have been able to give KISS KISS BANG BANG its due. Now, it's up to those of us who love the movie to speak out about it every chance we get, which is why I've included it here. Whatever movies you choose to watch this holiday season - be they the classics, or one of the under-the-radar films I’ve described above - settle down with a hot chocolate, some egg nog, or another beverage of choice, and enjoy the many facets and genres that Christmas cinema has to offer. |
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